HotSpot Episode 52: WiFi Virus Attacks Belfast and London

This week on WDD’s HotSpot,

The Vodafone Foundation[1] has announced the Instant Network Mini, a 25-pound mobile network in a backpack that can be deployed in just 10 minutes, enabling aid workers to carry out life-saving work in disaster situations. The Instant Network Mini can provide up to five concurrent calls within a radius of 328 feet and enable text messages to be sent to thousands of people to provide crucial information following a disaster.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool[2] simulated an attack on Belfast and London in a laboratory setting to demonstrate how WiFi networks can be infected with a virus. The virus, Chameleon, spread quickly between homes and businesses, avoiding detection and identifying points in which WiFi access is least protected by encryption and passwords.

SGP Technologies[3] has introduced the Blackphone at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The Blackphone[4] places privacy and control directly in the hands of its users. Blackphone’s PrivatOS, built on Android, and combined with a full suite of privacy-enabled applications, allows users to regain control over their communications activities. No longer will the use of a smartphone demand acceptance of unauthorized surveillance, commercial exploitation of activity data, and the loss of privacy, security and fundamental human rights.

The Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA’s[5] Ames Research Center, with funding from the Technology Demonstration Missions Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, is working to upgrade the smartphones currently equipped on a trio of volleyball-sized free-flying satellites on the space station called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES). According to NASA, each SPHERE satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computing and navigation equipment as well as expansion ports for additional sensors and appendages, such as cameras and wireless power transfer systems. By connecting a smartphone, the SPHERES become Smart SPHERES. They now are more intelligent because they have built-in cameras to take pictures and video, sensors to help conduct inspections, powerful computing units to make calculations and Wi-Fi connections to transfer data in real time to the computers aboard the space station and at mission control.

This week on WDD's HotSpot, a mobile network in a backpack for disaster situations; a WiFi virus attacks London and Belfast; a phone that place privacy and control directly in the hands of its users; and smart space spheres receive an upgrade...